Tuesday, February 02, 2010

We ratify our rejection of holding the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on sacred land that was stolen from the native nations of the Turtle Nation with the goal of constructing ski slopes in Vancouver, Canada. -from The Vicam Declaration, issued at the close of the first Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America, which was convened by Mexico's Indigenous National Congress, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, and the Kumiai nation and held in Sonora, Mexico from October 11-14, 2007

Based on this call, the Olympic Resistance Network's organizing as natives and non-natives alike is largely being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land." Something to keep in mind as you hear and see more of the Olympics in the weeks ahead. Here's more info from the Network:

The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver & Whistler, on unceded Indigenous land, from February 12-28 2010. Far from being simply about sport, the history of the Olympics is one rooted in displacement, corporate greed, and repression. As Olympic promoters and sponsors seek to present their sanitized corporate brand image to the world, the real impacts of the Games are apparent to everyone:

Expansion of sport tourism on Indigenous lands

Increasing homelessness across the province and especially in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

Misdirected public spending and debt totaling $6 billion while funding for the arts, educations, and health care are suffering cutbacks

Corporate bailouts and profits for companies with some of the worst social and environmental records

Threats to basic civil liberties and free speech

Union-busting and vulnerable working conditions for migrant labour

Unprecedented destruction of the environment

Unparalleled $1 billion police and security spending that is turning our city into a militarized zone.

We are calling on all anti-capitalist, Indigenous, housing rights, labor, migrant justice, environmental, anti-war, community-loving, anti-poverty, civil libertarian, and anti-colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents. We are organizing towards a global anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence against the 2010 Olympic Games.

Even more protests and actions have taken place since the torch entered BC on Jan 21. There will be an Indigenous Peoples' Assembly from February 5th through 8th by the Neskonlith on their un-surrendered Secwepemc Nation terriory, and this wave of resistance will culminate in an Anti-Olympic Convergence from Feb 10-15 organized by the Olympic Resistance Network in Vancouver.